Category Archives: blogpost

Wasted your day today?

I was supposed to be on holiday for 2 weeks in July. I was supposed to be switching off and recharging my batteries. The slog of getting through each day, with my business, work, family and friends was getting on top of me and a few weeks in the sun was what The Caveman Doctor had ordered.

I packed my bags and disappeared on a plane to Barbados. Yes, I hit it big, Sun, Sea, Sand and lots and lots of sun beds. This was what I needed but I did not realise that I was not switching off.

It was about 8 days into the holiday that I realised that I was still actually working and had not actually relaxed. I don’t mean spending hours on my laptop and making calls but I was still in contact with the world and working on my business.

It was a conversation I was having on Linked-In, with a new contact arranging a meet for a potential TV show. I happen to mention that I was on a beach and was asked why I was on Linked-In instead of being in the sea. I laughed and ignored this comment for another day before I realised that they had a point to make.

The trouble was that I had my mobile with me and had told myself that I could be trusted. I took it to the beach so I could listen to music and as the hotel had a great Wi-Fi connection, I did not stop looking at the front screen and listening to the ‘pings’ of new messages and connections coming through.

I found myself sat on a sun lounger, sun glasses on, sun beating down and me with my phone in my hand scrolling through ‘notifications’ every time the phone went ‘ping’. Just like most people my phone sounds constantly with a little note, tune or ting, each telling me a different notification coming through. My battery on my phone was only lasting about 8 hours because I was on it constantly – “This was not what I had signed up for!”

At the end of day 10, I was sat on the bed, plugging in the phone again and it was then that the penny dropped. What was I doing, I was glued to my phone and not enjoying my holiday!

The fix

I made an instant decision to switch off the notifications. I knew that most notifications are read within 5 seconds of being received on a phone, I was one of those statistics. They all went off and when I saw all the red dots against the settings, I felt instant relief.

The last 4 days of my holiday were what I needed, peace, quiet, relaxation and no pings!

Returning home, I considered turning back on the pings, but decided against allowing them to rule my life again. All my social media pings have remained off, only emails are now allowed to tell me that I have something new to look at.

Being back from my holiday, I can now say that I have back the control of my life and my phone is no longer a pull on my ear. I have more time, less distraction and I no longer have this need to be in possession on my phone.

Most people do not realise how captivating their phone can be and if you want to experience a different daily feel, just try switching off your notifications to you social media accounts and see what happens. For me it has been not only a positive experience but a liberating one as well.

It was October 2016 and we were informed that the Alarm Conference would like The Caveman to speak at their annual conference held at the University of Manchester in June the next year. Everything was agreed, hotels and parking booked and then the social media and publicity was agreed completed. #alarmrisk2017

Then before we knew it we were driving up to Manchester to deliver a “bluelight stress” talk as the Caveman Speaker.

The organisers were fantastic, they put on a do the evening before the start of the conference and looked after all their delegates. The Caveman also went along and started networking and entertaining the visitors.

Making some new friends and introducing ‘The Caveman’ to the group was a lot of fun. We made a definite impression, with loads of people asking if they could change their original choice and instead they now wanted to come to The Caveman talk instead.

It was a brilliant evening and the organisers were there to support and push the conference agenda. The end of the night came too soon, but final checks on the talk needed to be done before getting some beauty sleep.

The following day visiting the conference as a delegate, was a name badge shouting “SPEAKER” to anyone who looked, brought some smiles and a great start to conversations.

Gerald Ashley kindly kicked off the conference with his keynote speech and we could see the delegates were clearly getting into the conference. There was more networking, coffee, biscuits and more seminars and talks to listen to.

We got to lunchtime quickly and then it was time, when the Caveman took control! The bluelight stress talk was planned and had been practised and we were ready to rock!

Delegates arrived and the talk began, with one change to the request by the chaperone – “keep your phone on, and we want you to Tweet!” The reason? Well there was a bottle of wine on offer by the conference for the best tweet and we wanted the winner to be sat in the room!

The talk went as rehearsed with a quick intro and the first question put to the room “What makes humans different to animals?” Loads of great answers and humour to be had.

The talk was in full flow, loads of engagement by the room, laughter and “wow’s” were heard. Before we knew it, the hour was up and people were clapping.

The end of the hour saw people queuing up to speak to The Caveman and to take his business card. Hand shakes and thanks galore!

Something happened yesterday that really annoyed me… so I had to check.

Being part of any community is somewhat easy. Well this one group I am lucky enough be part of, are technically all in competition with each other, at least to some degree. However the members also support each other, complicated you may think? Exactly that. It is a complicated group, support one person and upset another, or get things wrong and watch the fall out.

Now I do consider myself to be an excellent communicator. I do not mean my spelling or grammar is 100% correct all of the time (waiting for the comments below) but I do mean I can read situations. I am able to form the right response to get the right outcome most of the time…

Yesterday was one of those moments, please let me explain.

Whilst on my mobile, I read a post on LinkedIn. Someone asked for a help in curtailing a wayward team of people and they were asking for recommendations. It had only been posted for an hour and you would consider this to be a relatively fresh request. There was very little action on the post and I thought I could recommend a great speaker. Someone that I truly respect and think of as a (very) distant mentor. Clicking on the link, I saw that the very last comment was from this very same person, I thought it would be an excellent fit and they had already seen the post. Being in the first 6 comments on this post, I knew I had to work fast to get their name up in the bright lights.

All I needed to do was support their post.. that was it.. simple.. easy.. done in less than 10 seconds and sit back feeling satisfied I helped a fellow speaker.

I actually felt quite good about supporting someone and after a few hours I started getting notifications that others had commented on the same post. Interested I took a look and saw that others had also recommended the very same person. Massive result I thought, there is no way that this person could be ignored.

A few extra hours later I manage to get to my laptop and thought about checking LinkedIn again. More comments on this very same post and more people saying the same name. Now being on a larger screen and able to use a proper keyboard and mouse, I start to read through the comments.

I saw that the very person I had recommended had commented on all the other people’s posts, thanking them and leaving a lovely note (typical of this person I thought). Then a thought, why had this person not liked or left a note on my comment. I had not only recommended them but I tagged them in the post as well – come on, where is my recognition?

I scrolled up, opening comments as I go. Then to the last 10 comments, seeing more comments and likes from this very same person. I was getting quite upset and even a little irritated. I had put their name forward and thought a little thank you was not too much to ask for. However scrolling up to my comment, I then saw it.

We have all been there, we have felt scorned, ignored and righteous in all our actions, well this feeling changed in an instant. All I wanted to do was help but at that very moment I felt sick. I reread my comment.

All I had to write was “I second ***** they’re a great speaker” but I messed this up, a simple task, that took seconds was now staring at me in the face and it was making me feel sick.

Using a mobile is great, instant access to all the profiles, all apps, all social media anywhere any time. All of it on a tiny screen and a tiny keyboard. Why haven’t we had this for centuries?

You see, instead of supporting this one person with what I thought I had actually typed, technology took over, auto correct “came to my rescue” and it ended up hashing my recommendation. There was no way I could recover this stupid mistake and very quickly deleted my comment.

I started to hope that they had not read it. Why would they read my one comment, when others had also recommended them.. it was not as if I had also tagged them in my post was it… Arrgh!!

So a day later, I have thought about apologising directly. At the same time I do not want to shy away from technology, instead it is about learning, growing and becoming even better. I refuse to change the idea that I am an excellent communicator, I can blame auto correct all I like but I have to accept responsibility for my own actions.

I pass on my apologies in a blog, hoping that this person can understand what happens and in time forgive a stupid typo.

Mind Body & Spirit Wellness Festival.

Some very exciting news this week from Cave HQ! Carl our very own Caveman has been invited to London to attend the MBS Festival.

A stall holder has been in contact, after reading The Caveman Principles. They are asking if he can come along and meet the organisers of the event. Carl has been offered the use of a sales area and to become an exhibitor whilst at the show. He plans to take up a sales booth, offering his book on the ‘Wellbeing for the 21st Century Kids and Families’ stand.
He will be at the show for the entire of Friday 28th April 2017. Some more information on the show.

If you’re into self-development, self-empowerment, yoga, meditation and wellbeing then you should be planning a visit to the Mind Body Spirit London Wellbeing Festival.

The festival will feature some of the most inspirational and motivational speakers including Paul McKenna, Natasha Corrett and Will Young along with musicians, artists and performers from across the globe.

If you are in London and are free for a few hours next weekend, I can recommend coming along to this event. If you come on the Friday and you get a chance, why not pop over and say hello. No spoiler alerts but I plan on doing my Caveman thing!

12 of the worst managerial terms used in 2017, that cause us stress.

We have all been sat at work, listened to manager speak and had to engage in conversation with a so called manager. You probably know the ones, these individuals are clearly out of their depth even when they are only splashing around in the shallow end of the pool.

You can tell when one of these so called modern managers approach as they have a very distinct call. It will be loud, fleeting and delivered at 100 miles an hour. Then they disappear in a blink of an eye, leaving people wondering what it was all about.

It seems that every time they pop into the office, they cause bewilderment and confusion. Firstly colleagues discuss why they came over and then tried to integrate at all, then they try to recall what had just been spouted in their general direction by a vanishing mirage.

They have just been ‘discombobulated’ by a supervisor. Yes, the manager has bamboozled them with management speak. These individuals have just had their bases touched by their manager, who did not use enough butter on their bread and has left their team looking at going forward, to streamline their actions as long as they do not go off-line as they have to concentrate on lining up their ducks.

So what has happened in our offices of power? Have we really started to use terms, and expressions that should have been left in the playground or at best in the pub after 5 pints? Yes, we have squared the circles as some have decided that plain English is just to obvious. That if managers use it, it would be clear they have no idea of what they are doing.

When we go to work we want to be spoken to as adults and in plain English. It is not hard to understand what people want to hear but as with everything in modern day work places, things are not as simple as this. We get stressed easily, especially when we know we are being belittled, misdirected and lied to.

The only time you should ever be asked to give some blue sky thinking is when you are on holiday and spread out on a sun lounger. If you are at a Diana Ross concert this is the only time you can reach out.

Here at Cave HQ, we has scoured the office desks and post-it notes to discover the most cringe-worthy and annoying phrases currently being used by Managers in 2017. We believe these sayings are part of the latest managers handbook, designed to cover peoples inadequacies in their role. To put some context on the worst offending managerial terms, we have put together a top 12 list along with our interpretation of their meanings.

We might want to think of the literal meanings of what we have been asked to do, so the next time we are asked for an idea shower, would it be wrong to throw armfuls of books at them?

Managerial speak and what it means.

Thinking outside the box. A very simple way of saying, things are not working out and you need to try a new idea but if it goes wrong, I did not sanction it.

Singing from the same hymn sheet. Stop going in a different direction and work as a team, someone in the team has complained and now I have to deal with it.

It is not in my gift. I am not interested in exploring your request and do not want to burden my time in trying to sort it out.

No brainer. I want to show support for a great new idea, it sounds really impressive but I have no idea what it is all about however we are still going to do it.

Its on my radar. I forgot about it but was hoping I would remember to do it at some point, thanks for reminding me.

Bring it to the table. I have been asked to come up with a new method of doing something, but have no idea where to start, I need your help.

Hit the ground running. I have heard of a good idea and instead of introducing it slowly and testing it, we are changing practices straight away.

Low hanging fruit. I cannot be bothered about taking on any difficult tasks, I want an easy job.

Dot the I’s and cross the T’s. I do not trust you to produce high quality work without you checking and then re-checking your efforts, as I may want to pass this off as my own.

Best practice. You are doing it all wrong and are not doing it the way I want you to do it but I am not sure how to do it properly any way.

I’m swamped. Even though I am paid more money than you, I am not capable of good time management and I have to look busy, so I have no time for you.

Out of the loop. I have had no interest in getting involved in this and still have no interest in helping anyone come to a decision.

With managers not willing to tell people the truth, that they are not capable of doing their job properly, Managerial speak will continue to evolve as they bluff their way up the greasy pole of the promotion ladder. Words and phrases will get more skewed and longer as they continue to engage in the process whilst using their broken protractor and not getting the right angle.

Smile and laugh when you hear their calls and if you have your phone at hand tweet me your best verbal spews @carlrosierjones using #CluelessManager.

Carl is the author of the 5 star rated The Caveman Principles book, he is currently writing book number two and decided that a time out was needed to share some thoughts.

Who is the Caveman?

Stand by for the big reveal… It is me!

Yes, I am the Caveman and my name is Carl Rosier-Jones. In case you need a tad more detail, I am based in Swindon, Wiltshire and have been running my Caveman Principles business for about 18 months. Wow this is going to be a very boring post if I don’t explain why I am blogging these facts which involves me, my new show and the comedian Jon Richardson (from 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown).

To get you up to speed, I have to start back a little way to add a bit of context to the last week, as these last few days have been the most exciting, challenging and explosive week (since the book launch) that has ever happened here at Cave HQ and it would not mean a lot to you if I just went on about the last few days.

For the entire of 2017 we have been planning, writing, and practising for one evening, that is the Wednesday, 8th March 2017. This date is important as this was the very first planned ‘live’ Caveman Principles show that our Caveman (me) presented. It was titled “An evening with The Caveman.”

There were a number of ‘firsts’ that happened on the 8th, we were the very first ‘official’ show at a brand new Swindon venue, The Bohemian Balcony, Jennings Street, Swindon and it was pretty cool. The turn-out for the show was better than we ever expected, being the very first one and all.

To quickly cover the show – The show started and the first half went well, as The Caveman (dressed in a smart tailored suit) presented the Stress Principles which were are all from the published book, taking people through daily stress management, dealing with stupid people and stopping ourselves form being too hard on ourselves.

The second part of the show was another ‘first’ – The Caveman was in his signature outfit and presented the brand new R.E.S.P.E.C.T. principles, finishing the show with a question and answer session and closing just after 10pm. The Caveman remained and chatted to the audience after the show for a little while and was then booked to deliver another Caveman talk in September. Everyone left that night very happy mammoths but I was walking on air, it was a truly wonderful evening.

Jon Richardson

Now we roll on to the evening of Friday 10th March when I (The Caveman) had a night off and attended the Jon Richardson comedy show “The Old Man” at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon. It was a good show, until half way through the first half when Jon decided to make comment about his use of Twitter and who had mentioned they were going to the show. From the stage he calls out “Where’s Carl… The Caveman?”

The whole audience started to look around and I (The Caveman) took a big gulp and called out “Yup” in a rather shaky but meaningful tone, knowing there was a good hours worth of comedy with my name in a comedians hands. Jon was great, he said that he had trawled the Caveman’s twitter account @carlrosierjones and was interested in the book! How great was this? Then he wanted to know how to buy it as he said he suffered from stress.

On top of that I (The Caveman) was able to announce to the whole theatre the workings and content of the book as he asked more questions and this could not have been at a better time, as it was only 2 days since I had run an entire show about it!

Jon carried on with his show but kept asking about the book and then he took a much needed break for which I was very thankful, so that I could get my thoughts back in order. Then to top of the night, throughout the second half Jon referred to me as, Carl the stress expert in the audience on more than one occasion!

Up to this point, I did not think things could get better, I left Jon’s show a very happy caveman. The whole audience had been introduced to The Caveman and the book, hence this blog!

Local news.

Even though I thought this was enough, to add even more to this story, the very next day (Saturday) some very kind soul who had come to my Wednesday evening show as an audience member at The Bohemian Balcony decided that they would take the time and write a review about my show. It was published in the local newspaper. You can read it here –

OK, I felt like I needed to stop as I was about to burst or as my wife said, my head would not fit through any doorways… but I could not stop as the local ‘Haydon Wick Living’ magazine comes out the very same weekend and an interview I did with a local counsellor at the end of last year, is printed in the middle of the magazine!

It goes to show when you believe in your business and you are willing to promote and put yourself out there, in a very hard arena to try and make a difference in people’s lives, things can suddenly start to happen.

I am proud to be The Caveman and I am proud for what we stand for here at Cave HQ. We believe we can change the world and if this last week has anything to go by, it might be happening quicker than we think!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts about all this and will wait to see if there is going to be a follow up story, as we are not sure what else is coming from around the corner because we did not see this week panning out to be quite so exciting.